The Lost
by Ivy Gort
Summary: After Chosen Buffy's search for new slayers runs into problems in Central Park. Beauty and the Beast follows canon through Third Season and after.
1. Default Chapter

"Kasey, where are you going?" Kassandra heard Jacob as she ran away from him up the Long Serpentine stairs into the cold darkness of the tunnels. His voice echoing above the constant wind that blew out of the abyss. The slippery stairs were no problem for her to navigate, even in the pitch black, as she left the light of the torches far behind her.

The stairs were literally carved out of the walls, winding down into the blackness. Or, depending on where one began, winding up into darkness. Darkness was all around her as she ran.

Kassandra didn't stop. She kept running up the stairs away from Jacob, away from the stares of the children, away from Cullen. Of course she had heard him--she had heard him because she was freak of nature. Ever since her mother had been attacked by those knife-wielding nuts, she had been living Below. Ever since her life had changed, she had heard the whispers about her being so strong, about the way she could sense people. . . things that hadn't been obvious or important to her mom, were to these people. She had been peacefully anonymous above—just one of millions living in New York City—as long as she didn't make noise, no one noticed you.

"Kasey, please slow down. It's too dangerous to run up the stairs, you'll fall like Cullen!" She heard the exasperation in Jacob's voice. And there was another mark on the freak scale—for the past year she could see in all but the darkest tunnels. That was how she was able to save Cullen from tumbling over the edge; she had seen the stair give way under him, she saw him, as if in slow motion, lose his balance, his arms pin wheeling as they reached for something to save himself. . . She had reacted without thinking, jumping over Jacob and the children to land on the stair below Cullen. Still, she had nearly been too late as he disappeared over the edge. . . she had grabbed his hand in her own and pulled him back from the abyss.

She had saved him—a girl barely 16 years old and 95 pounds soaking wet—she had saved him, a man over six feet tall and two hundred pounds. She had seen the stair give way in the darkness, jumped twenty feet to lightly land on the stair above him, then used one hand to catch him and pull him to safety.

She was a freak.

Kassandra continued her mad dash up the stairs, away from the shocked and frightened emotions of Cullen and the children. She had to get out of their range, she had to run. Jacob would be able to find her, he would understand as he always had, ever since they were little. He was her brother in every way but name.

Then again, he seemed to be all the children's brother. Jacob was Vincent's only son, born out of the truest and most tragic of love stories. The story of Jacob's parents was the most honored tale of her childhood and was told every Christmas in the Big Hall by Old William.

As she ran, her thoughts turned to the past year, which always lead to the 'attack'-- as the tunnel dwellers called it in whispers. Her mother had killed seven of the attackers before her gun jammed; then she had delayed them long enough for Vincent to kill the rest. The bile rose in her throat as she remembered the terror of that night. The freaks dressed in robes ran out of the alley, long ritual knives held over their heads. Mother had pushed Kass into a run away from them. The freaks chased them down the suddenly deserted streets, finally trapping them, backing them into the doorway of an empty warehouse . . . Kass could hear police sirens screaming, trying to reach them in time. It wasn't until later that Uncle Joe told her about her mom's cell phone and how all she had to do was press 911 and help would come . . . too late.

The fight had been short and brutal, her mother mowing them down with "heart shots," and when her gun gave out—taking them on with her bare hands, only to lose just as Vincent landed between Kass and the remaining attackers—she still saw their sightless eyes each night in her dreams.

She knew she should have been thankful that Vincent had shown up and rescued her on that dark snowy street--she knew she should be grateful--yet she wasn't. All she could see was her mother's mutilated, lifeless, body staring up at her. Uncle Joe had picked her up and carried her out of the police station and straight to the Central Park entrance to Vincent, to the tunnels, to live.

Every so often Uncle Joe would make the trip into the Tunnels to let her know that her mother's murder was still unsolved. He would fidget, shifting from one foot to the other as he painfully asked how Kass was doing, or if she needed anything. Sometimes he would stay for supper in the Great Hall and she would catch him staring at her. Mary told her it was because she looked so much like her mother and no man could resist her regal beauty. Kass just thought Uncle Joe felt guilty because he had promised her father he would protect her mother and didn't.

Kass never knew her father. The only reason she knew that Uncle Joe had failed was because she overheard him talking to Vincent.

Kass stopped running when she reached the Falls. It had been a long run in near darkness, as she avoided the inhabited tunnels and chambers. She took a deep breath to smell the fresh scent of the spray as it rose up from the river far below her. When she was little she used to imagine the sunlight streaming through the cracks in the rocks above as the highway to heaven.

She sat on the rough-hewn rock bench, next to the edge of the cliff. She let the feeling of life that water always gave her flow through her and wash away the pain. As her emotions settled she felt a mild buzz coming from the entrance behind her. The buzz wasn't unpleasant it was just . . . different from what she normally felt from the people of the tunnels. She got the buzz from only two people, Vincent and Jacob.

She smiled as she shifted on the bench to turn around; Jacob was always able to find her for some reason. "You can . . . " the greeting trailed off as Narcissa stepped into the chamber. The blind Vodoun Priestess rarely made her way from the lower reaches.

"Girl, the danger has passed, the great evil defeated." Narcissa walked up to her. Kassandra could never understand how the woman could be blind and yet she never walked into things.

Narcissa reached a gnarled, arthritic hand out to Kass, softly touching her hair. "You look so much like your father . . . but like your mother you are a hunter," the seer continued, holding Kass' hair up as if Narcissa could see the red-gold locks in the darkness of the tunnel.

Then Kassandra's mind caught up with what Narcissa said. "You know my father?" The young girl shouted, jumping up and staring at the woman. The acid rose in her throat and sweat broke out on her lower lip. Her mother never once mentioned her father. When she was little it didn't matter because she would stay in the tunnels for long stretches of time, and many of the children in the Tunnels didn't have parents. But, when she went to school above, the other children would ask her where her father was . . . and when she couldn't answer them . . . children could be so cruel.

"Do you know where my father is? Do you know anything about him?" Tears started pooling in her eyes. Since her mother was gone, she had a fantasy that her father would swoop into her life like one of the fairy tales Vincent read to them when they were little.

"Who is he?" she demanded. Kass was a tiny child, but Narcissa was shorter still, so when she grabbed the seer's shoulders in her hands she towered over the Priestess.

"The great evil has been defeated; it is time for you to fulfill your destiny," Narcissa said calmly, as if she didn't hear the young girl's pleas. "She is coming to take you and your brother away to prepare . . ." Kass' patience was used up and she shook the tiny black woman to make her stop, or start, she didn't know which.

"Who is my father?" Kassandra commanded, adding another shake for emphasis, rattling the old woman's teeth.

"Kassandra! Enough!" Vincent's voice thundered, echoing in the chamber. Kassandra jumped away from the old woman, ashamed.

"But she said she knew . . ." Kass protested.

"I said enough," Vincent cut her off, his steel blue eyes focused on her. Kass didn't need to be an empath to know that Vincent was furious with her for putting her hands on Narcissa. No one in the tunnels ever fought, it was taboo and to break the rule could mean banishment.

Kass could feel the heat from humiliation burning her face. She couldn't face Vincent so she turned to look out over the falls once again.

"The child meant me no harm," she heard Narcissa's musical voice.

"Narcissa, do not excuse Kassandra's bad behavior . . ." Vincent's deep baritone answered the old seer. Kassandra could almost see Vincent's stiff posture, his hands clasped behind his back, the cape he always wore flaring out around his feet. None of the tunnel inhabitants would talk back to him when he stood like that, his leonine face forming a slight grimace that showed just a hint of fang. . Vincent was the final word, the law, the judge, the executioner, of the tunnel world.

"I do not excuse her behavior, nor do I excuse yours for hiding the truth all these years," Narcissa's musical voice deepened and Kass glanced over her shoulder at the woman. "You make the same mistakes that Jacob did with Devon . . ."

"Silence!" Vincent thundered again, and took a full stride forward so that he appeared to be gigantic next to the Priestess. He was glaring down at her with both fangs showing, the aggressiveness in his stance something that Kass had never witnessed before. She knew she was staring, and that too, was taboo in the tunnel world. With the inhabitants packed so closely together and very few having doors on their chambers; it was beyond rude to stare.

"As you wish," Narcissa nodded to him. "It be unimportant for her destiny is above and even you will not be able to stop it." And with that the Priestess left them alone.

Kassandra held her breath waiting for Vincent to say something. The idea that the mystery of her father might actually be explained was almost too much for her to bear.

"Kassandra, go report to William in the kitchen." Vincent told her with no emotion in his voice and the disappointment crashed through her.

"No," the word flew out of her mouth before she realized it. Fear and excitement coursed through her. She was sure that Vincent's shocked expression match her own.

"Very well, then you will go to bed tonight without dinner," he told her, his voice cold as ice. With a flare that only the protector of the tunnels could pull off Vincent turned on his heels and left her alone before she could protest.


	2. Chapter Two Call of the Wild

Chapter Two The Call of the Wild

"Kassandra, you might as well sit down," Jacob said. "You aren't going to

be able to sneak out tonight, I've already checked with the sentries."

Kass paused in her pacing to glance over her shoulder at Jacob standing in

the middle of the chamber entrance. "There are ways around the sentries,"

she stated flatly, then she started the movement again. Yet another sign of

her freakiness, for the past year she had felt a yearning to go out at

night. Whether to just walk around the tunnels or to go all the way to

Central Park, she couldn't sleep until she'd been out. It was as if she

were searching for some elusive, nameless 'something'. She could no more

have stayed still and peacefully gone to sleep than she could have stopped

breathing.

She started counting her steps, two steps from the entrance to the bed,

three to the back of the chamber, four back to the front of the chamber,

back and forth she paced. It became a game, because she knew that soon the

tunnel world would slow down and become quiet and then it would be her time.

Her time to do . . .

What, she didn't know.

Kass just knew she had to go, despite the fact that Vincent had ordered her

to her chamber like a five year old. He had done that despite the fact that

Narissia knew who her father was.

Tonight was special.

She felt the sun slowly sinking in the west, she could almost smell the

scents in the Park above changing from the daylight world into the darkness of

night. She had changed too; she used to love the brightness of the sun, she

loved to bask in the heat of the summer sun out on the roof of their

apartment.

Now the sun was just too bright for her sensitive eyes. The few times she'd

been above since--it--had happened she'd gotten headaches from the

brightness. Just one more thing taken away from her.

"You know that Vincent will want to talk after he gets back from patrol

about what happened this afternoon." Jacob persisted, interrupting her train

of thought as she paused once more.

"Patrol?" She said the word like this was the first time she'd heard it.

Vincent always went on patrol at night, sometimes she would follow him as

he made his rounds, only tonight the word had a new meaning to her.

Jacob walked over to her bed and sat down on the edge as if he felt the

strangeness too.

"So?" he asked.

She ignored his questions as the restlessness drove her back into motion.

She saw Jacob cock his head to the side in frustration because she didn't

answer.

"Why do you call your father Vincent?" she asked, knowing that the question

would distract him, and she was suddenly curious about Jacob's relationship

with Vincent. If Vincent was the protector, the judge, the King, of the

tunnels then Jacob was the heart. Everyone knew about the circumstances of

his birth. The story of Jacob's birth and rescue by her mother was told

every Spring by Father.

He shrugged his shoulders and she knew what he was going to say so she said

it first, "Because it would be confusing to everyone for you to call Vincent

father?" Kassandra answered her own question. "Don't you realize that's not

true?"

Jacob nodded, "You're right, only I don't want to discuss my relationship

with my father."

The rest of his words were drowned out as an invisible force hit her and she

stumbled, nearly going down. A burning wave of -- rage -- washed over her.

"Kassandra?" Jacob's hand was steadying her and wondered how he was able to

move so fast.

"Tonight's different," she said, as she was forced back into motion. She

rubbed the back of her neck, shaking her head. "Something's coming,

something's coming. . . " Kass repeated as words became harder and harder

to form in her mind.

"What's coming?" Jacob asked, and she saw the concern on his face by the way

his eyebrows drew together when he frowned. "Kass, talk to me. What's

coming?" He took a step forward, causing her to shy away from him. His

frown deepened and despite their appearance, Jacob acted exactly like

Vincent.

Jacob was very much Vincent's son. And she realized in that moment Jacob

was more of Vincent's son than anyone would ever know--they felt the same--

not human.

A pain was building in her stomach, a pain that was working it's way up her

spine, she grabbed her head.

"Tonight's different," she repeated, "it's stronger than before." The urge

to attack Jacob raced through her and took root in her mind. She wanted to

fight him--wanted to rip him apart. He was--she didn't know what he was--

except she needed to kill him, to rid the world of his kind.

Kassandra knew she should understand what was happening to her; she should

know what everything meant. She should be able to fight the urge to tear

into Jacob, to fight him, to kill him.

"What's wrong with me?" she pleaded to Jacob, begging him for the answer.

Except that wasn't really the question she wanted to ask.

How would she be able to find answers if she didn't know the questions? The

frustration made it worse, made fire inside of her soul burn, to hurt

as nothing ever had in her life.

"I--I" he stumbled away from her, "I'll get Father."

"No!" Kass shouted in desperation, she had to be out in the night, not

closed up under the ground. "No, he can't help. I have to be out there

tonight. I . . . I something's wrong with me! What's wrong?" The

physical pain in her stomach increased as the emotional need to fight or run

totally overwhelmed her. She wrapped her arms around her middle to keep from

doubling over.

"I don't know what's wrong, but we'll find out," she heard Jacob say as he

took her into his arms, holding her. She felt Jacob's hands on her

shoulders and she looked at him through a red haze, she saw his lips move

and heard sounds but nothing made sense. It would be so easy for her to

just reach up, take his head in her hands, and twist.

"Oh God," she whispered, as she stepped out of Jacob's hold, her hand

covering her mouth as she gasped.

"Kasandra!" And for a second time that day she ran.

She had to run, she had to get away from him before she lost it, before she totally and completely lost it. She didn't want to hurt Jacob, she didn't want to hurt anyone.

She raced through the Tunnels, sliding around the corners and bends in the soft sand just barely keeping her feet in her chase. Jacob's frantic pounding on the pipes was deafening and pushed her to run faster because she knew it would bring Him, Vincent. Jacob was warning the other people of the community, he was asking them to stop her. The other of people of the Tunnels, the normal people, had no chance to catch her, to stop her before she got above, only Jacob and Vincent.

She had to escape, to get away and, yet, she had to find them. Find who? The confusion in her mind, the internal conflict between who she was, Kassandra, and what was burning her from the inside out spurred her on. She felt Vincent gaining on her as she rounded the corner to the Central Park exit. She could feel him as if he were standing next to her; she felt his need to catch her.

She didn't know when she started to hear him behind her, she just could, as she slid to a stop long enough to pull the lever so that the heavy cement door blocking the Tunnels from the real world would roll back. She was through it and had hit the lever to close the door within a heart beat.

"Kassandra stop!" Vincent screamed, "stop right where..." The rest was cut off as the door moved back into place. Kass knew it wouldn't stop him or even slow him down.

As she left the protection of the tunnels her feet slipped on the icy ground of the culvert, her arms pin-wheeled wildly as she regained her balance. The cold wind whipped down the ditch and it cut through her clothes stunning her. Her clothing was perfect for the constant cool temperatures of the Tunnels but the frigid January night she was chilled to the bone within a few steps. She paused as the cold seemed to leech away some of the rage that had been driving her from the moment she saw Jacob...

What was she doing? Why was the hunger so much harder to control tonight than it was last night or last week? What was... The thought was cut-off as she saw Vincent step out of the Tunnel Entrance.

"Kassandra! Stop this madness now," Vincent thundered, only she saw the relief in his blue eyes instead of anger.

_'He's afraid,'_ she thought, _'I've truly frightened him.'_

Her thoughts were ripped away the next instance as the wind brought the scent of blood to her, the rage that had lessened in the cold air sprang forward. It was more than blood, it was the hideous smell of evil - of dead things - of her prey.

Curious she watched Vincent's eyes as the odor reached him, the irises flared brightly for only a second, and then his pupils grew until just a tiny touch of blue was left.

"Go back to the Commons' now," he growled, taking a giant step towards her. "Kassandra, leave," he commanded her.

She couldn't move, she wanted to obey him, she had to obey him. The thing inside her wouldn't let her, wouldn't release her to go back into the safety of the Tunnels. Her stomach cramped, the pain of it nearly causing her to double over and the urge to fight was clawing at her to move, to attack Vincent or to hunt the evil that was causing the smell - it didn't matter which - it just wanted her to move.

She felt herself mirroring Vincent as she lifted her head higher, taking in an unneeded breath so that she could taste the scent, taste it and find a direction. She shuddered with the force of the battle within her, once again the pain crawled up her spine. She could almost see the tentacles of evil flowing on the wind and she knew the direction. She was able to picture her in mind the jogger's path over the culvert behind her. The hand railing would be covered with ice so she would have to make sure she cleared it and landed on the soft snow of the path. The fact that she was contemplating what would be at least a jump of ten feet, straight up, didn't seem to faze her. She knew that Vincent was about to try to stop her and she couldn't allow it.

And now that her choice was made the pain lessened, now that she wasn't fighting it, it settled...

She surrendered.

She jumped.

She followed the scent, the trail of evil through the deserted night, passed the Carousel, through the Ramble...


	3. Chapter Three The Chosen

_**Chapter Three - The Chosen**_

The wind stung her face; the cold numbed her hands as she dashed through the snow-covered woods. The light of the moon turned the night into day to her sensitive eyes. The scent was teasing her and Kass knew she couldn't really see the corrupt red tentacles as they led her through the Park. She knew that she should stop and let Vincent catch up to her, she knew it, yet she couldn't make herself do it. Now that she had given into the hunger there was no going back.

Her flimsy shoes were useless, her feet were nearly frozen, but none of it mattered.

She was free.

She was alive.

For the first time since coming to the Tunnels she could let herself go; running as fast as she could she flew over the fallen logs and across the frozen, snow covered lake.

Diana's moon was her only companion.

And it seemed right.

It was as if the night belonged to her, that this was what she born to do, this was her natural place in the world, she was a hunter. She would never again be able to wear the cloak of civilization that the Tunnel World demanded.

She let go of the all the rules, all the customs, nothing could stand in her way.

Nothing could stop her.

Until Jacob appeared, part of her assumed he came up through the 82nd street Threshold, but another part of her didn't care, not with the smell of her prey so tantalizingly close.

She didn't slow down, didn't waver, she just jumped over him, easily avoiding his reaching hands and then, he too, was behind her.

Kassandra paused just a beat when she felt a tiny wisp of familiarity--like a shimmering thread of light--against the red darkness of evil. It was from something or someone just over Summit Rock, someone who could answer all her questions. Answer all her longings. It was the slightest tug to a heart that had been more frozen than the ice covered ground since her mother had died.

She scrambled up the sharp, icy rocks, slipping and sliding, bruising her shins and scraping her hands; she had to reach the battle before the Evil won. Vincent was far behind her, Jacob further still, as she finally was able to see - Her.

The light of the moon shining off her golden hair made the woman look like an angel - an angry angel - as one of the monsters surrounding her came to close to her sword and lost his head for it.

Kassandra stood stunned as a spray of blood filled the air just before the body of the monster disappeared in a cloud of dust. Then a small feeling of pride rose up from the thing that prowled inside of Kass. And suddenly neither the fact that the monster disintegrated nor that he resembled a man with a deformed face mattered, because his kind was the cause of the overwhelming sense of evil. His kind was her rightful prey and what pulled her into the night.

There had to be fifteen or twenty of the beasts on the bike trail, and as Kass stood, stunned and staring, she knew that many more had been killed by the woman. The blood from the battle--both theirs and that of the woman they fought--had turned the snow of the bike trail red.

"Stay there, don't move!" The woman ordered, and instantly Kassandra stopped, she stood still in the frigid air. The rage inside Kassandra obeyed "Her." Without question, without thought, Kassandra stayed on tallest rock overlooking the vicious fighting below.

The woman did a spinning kick effectively taking the legs out from under a monster that had been attempting to hit her with a wicked looking club. The thing fell into the red slush at the woman's feet, she dropped to one knee, and then it, too, was gone. The woman bounced up just as another monster swung a length of chain at her legs. She threw the piece of wood she had in her hand and the chain fell into the snow. Two attackers rushed her at once, as another length of chain flew between them and wrapped around the woman's sword arm. She was yanked forward into the waiting arms of the monsters or so Kass thought until first one of them then the other disappeared in a cloud of dust. And now that Kassandra was looking for it she saw the sharpened piece of wood the woman's free hand. The attacker with the chain never stood a chance as the woman let him pull her to him and hit him like a linebacker hit a quarterback. The blade of her sword neatly removed his head; the blood sprayed the ground for only second before he dissolved into dust.

Then there was another monster, and another, a seemingly endless number. And as the fight progressed Kassandra watched as the woman slid gracefully through the vile creatures, she never slipped in the icy snow. Every action seemed choreographed as if the woman and the monsters were dancing.

A deadly ballet.

The blonde was dressed for the fight, in the same clothes that Kassandra's mother might have worn, jeans, a leather jacket, matching leather gloves, Doc Martins, and one long blonde braid swinging around as the woman moved.

Then cold air stuck in Kassandra's throat as she realized that the connection, the barest hint of a thread between the woman and Kass _'felt'_, as if the stranger below was her mother. Not like her true mom, the police officer who died protecting her from those creeps, but still, it _'felt'_ like the woman below was related to her.

Kass heard the blonde's harsh and ragged breathing. As she watched Kassandra noticed how the woman protected the left side of her body; the blonde had been injured at some point while she had been battling. The realization caused Kass' frozen hands to clench into fists and her body began to hum as the need to rip through the evil consumed her.

"I said stay!" The woman shouted, before Kass could move. The order stilled the thing inside her, the predator as Kass now thought of it. Her order had stilled it but not Kassandra's wish to join the fight.

As if by a prearranged signal the fight below her paused at the woman's words, and the monsters slowly backed away, forming a loose semi-circle around the pair. The creatures were in front of them and Summit Rock behind them trapping them in place.

Kassandra jumped down to stand next the woman and one part of Kass noticed the tears in her jacket and bloody rips in her jeans where it appeared she had been slashed. Kass' mind catalogued the damage the woman had sustained and she wondered whom the woman was, _what_ she was, and how she could still be standing.

Then she wondered what the monsters were and how could the evil, vile things, even be allowed to set foot on the earth? Somehow she knew they were connected to the creeps who ran down and murdered her mother. She knew it, was sure of it, could taste the malevolence. Just like the woman beside her -_'felt'-_ like her mother, like safety was connected to the warmth of her mother's love.

Kassandra took a step forward without realizing it and was yanked off her feet as the woman grabbed her shoulder. Kass landed on her back and then slid through the red slush to end up several feet behind the blonde. The force the tiny woman used left Kass staring up at her in open-mouthed astonishment.

"Get up," she ordered, and Kass jumped to her feet. She obeyed without question, as power from the tiny woman washed over her, enveloping her in familiar warmth. The thing within Kass seemed to settle, like a caged animal whose master had just reassured it.

"Listen to your mother," a cultured, accented voice said from the crowd of monsters. And the woman flowed forward into a balanced fighting stance her sword held in both hands in front of her. Kass immediately tried to copy her however her limbs felt awkward and slow in comparison.

"You want something or can we get back to the fighting?" The woman called to the monster.

Kassandra thought he sounded like Andy, the Russian Helper from Brighton Beach. Alexander Antyuhin owned a hot dog cart.

Only it wasn't Andy who stepped out from behind the monsters, for one thing Andy could never afford the tailored suit or the matching over coat that the creature wore. He was taller than the others around him, his face was human, though Kass could feel the evil radiating off of him. He had power. He had as much power, if a different kind, as the woman in front of her.

The monster asked, "Do you know who I am?" His black eyes bore into Kassandra's, engulfing her, smothering her. She was tired, she was just so tired of everyone in the Tunnels whispering about her, she was tired of trying to be normal, to be something she could never be, and she missed her mom. She missed their sun drenched walks in the park, their trips to the beach; she missed her mother's steady presence. What was the use in trying to fight? When all she wanted to do was to sleep for a year, the lancing pain from her frozen feet and hands was suddenly overwhelming, the wind cut through her light clothing. She was so cold it hurt and she knew if she could just sleep ... she sank to one knee. The half-melted snow didn't matter, she just wanted to sleep...

"Oh please!" The woman's exasperated voice echoed through the fog of exhaustion that surrounded Kass. Then everything snapped back into focus and Kassandra realized she was lying in the cold snow. She pushed up using her hands and then slowly stood, confused. Rasputin nodded to the woman as if he were acknowledging her as his equal.

"You back with us?" The woman asked, quickly glancing behind her. Kass nodded, still dazed and confused. What had happened? The Russian had a knife buried in his hand that he was slowly pulling out of his palm. It appeared like he'd tried to catch it or block it.

"So," he said, as he wrapped his injury with a silk handkerchief, "you are she?"

"Bored now," the woman answered. The blonde released one hand on her sword, reached down, and pulled a round shaft of wood from inside her boot, then flicked it back to Kassandra. "Pointy end out and aim for the heart."

Kassandra caught the wood easily and knew it belonged in her hands. The wood warmed her hands. The power inside her expanded, filling her, pushing out all the pain and it was like her body remembered how to hold it. The frozen tendons in her hand warmed and stretched as she instinctively held the stake up.

Stake?

Where did the word come from? How did she know what it was or how to hold it?

Then she began to remember...

She didn't know what she was seeing as the images of different girls fighting flashed before her minds eye. She only knew that fighting the creatures before her was her calling. Was what she was born to do.

This time when she tried to flow into a fighting stance her frozen arms and legs nearly obeyed her.

"I am Rasputin," the monster said, bowing slightly towards the woman. Only to be interrupted by a derisive, unlady like, snort

"And I'm supposed to care, why? You'll be dust soon enough," the woman mocked. Kass felt the black rage as it radiated off the monster. For the first time she was able to pull her eyes off him and notice the threat that the ten odd creatures that surrounded them posed.

"Let us have a civilized..." he began again, and Kass couldn't understand why the monsters weren't attacking or maybe she did know considering the slaughter she had just witnessed.

"Yeah, Yeah, you're Rasputin, you're bad, you're evil with a capital E. I dusted five of you, when I was in Russia last year," the woman sneered. She eased her stance slightly favoring one of her legs. Kass could see her shoulders tightening as the muscles on her side spasmed. The woman tried to cover her weakness by shifting the sword further in front of her however Kass could tell that Rasputin saw it. Kass could tell by his ugly smirk.

"I have paid a terrible Butcher's Bill this night," his voice was hard, his black eyes burning. "I have no wish to lose anymore of my followers, surrender now and I will allow the child to leave."

Kassandra expected the woman to answer him with a caustic remark, or at least a resounding no, but when silence met the creatures offer Kass felt dizzy.

"No," Kassandra tried to shout only her mouth was too dry. She swallowed, "No!" She repeated, shaking her head, she could fight, too!

"Quiet," the woman ordered sharply. The woman faced the creature more fully. "Yeah, like I can trust a vampire named Rasputin to keep his word. What part of Evil did you think I missed?"

Vampire? Did she say Vampire? Then Kassandra looked at the monsters surrounding them and the label clicked into place.

She accepted it because she had too. What did Father always say? Something about when the improbable had been eliminated all that was left was the impossible? No, that wasn't it, either. It didn't matter. What mattered was Kassandra was strong; she had been given the strength to never be a victim again! She didn't need protecting; she didn't need to be treated like child.

The woman shifted more fully onto her other leg and her sword lowered a fraction of an inch. Kassandra didn't want the brave woman to die.

Clouds raced across the moon covering it, casting the scene in darkness. A drop of blood dripped off the end of the woman's sword and landed in the puddle on the ground in front of her.

"Can we get back to the fighting?" The woman called to Rasputin. The rest of the monsters--Vampires--looked at their leader. The monsters tensed in anticipation of his order. Several had chains that they prepared to use. The woman eased some of her weight back onto her injured leg and her knee nearly folded. Kass heard the hiss of pain as the blonde forced her leg to support her.

The woman was hurt; she was desperately hurt, and now with the slight pause in the fight the pain was catching up to her.

Rasputin shifted into the appearance of calm certainty. His laser eyes watching the blonde's every move, waiting. He took his time answering her, first he brushed an imaginary speck of dust off his overcoat, then he adjusted the makeshift bandage on his wounded hand. The seconds ticked by, and Kass could see the woman growing weaker as blood from one of the deeper slashes on her leg seeped through her jeans.

"I am a businessman," Rasputin said. "If I were to lie to you then none of my associates would trust me again. I've made my offer, even though you are wounded, you are still Penthesilia, Queen of the Slayers. I don't know how many more it will take to kill you, but know this, you are going to die this night, and your head will decorate my office wall. The only choice you have it is whether the child dies with you. You have seen that I can control her."

Kassandra recognized the name Penthesilia and vaguely remembered some of the story. That couldn't possibly be her real name?

The woman's shoulders tensed and she held her head up higher in defiance for only a moment as her leg gave out completely and she nearly fell. Her shoulders dropped in defeat and her sword lowered. Kass knew she was giving up, knew that the blonde would rather die than let any harm come to her.

"No, I won't leave you Penthesilia," Kassandra begged, she stepped forward and grabbed the woman by the shoulder, only releasing her when she saw the agony it caused her to move.

"You have no choice and my name isn't Pen-the-tail-on, it's Buffy, I don't know who that is or what that is, but I'm just Buffy," the woman said tiredly.

"Penthesilia, became Queen of the Amazons when she accidentally killed her sister," Vincent's voice echoed from behind the monsters. All the vampires and the woman pivoted as one towards the sound.

"Vincent!" Kass cried, when the vampires shifted and she was able to see him, standing tall under a streetlight. The hood of his cloak covering his face and his hands clasped behind his back. Kassandra's vision clouded as tears filled her eyes and her knees nearly buckled in relief. The pure child's belief that Vincent was invincible made her giddy.

The woman's sharp glance back at her silenced her. Kassandra wanted to tell Buffy that they would be safe now, Vincent was there, he would make everything all right--she couldn't--Buffy wouldn't let her.

Buffy? Kass nearly laughed, what kind of name was Buffy? Kass shook her head and tried to concentrate.

Rasputin had turned to Vincent, answering him, "yes, but she was killed by Achilles in battle after he raped her. I have no such plans of violation." The Vampire nodded back at the woman, back at Buffy. "She deserves an honorable death."

"No, Achilles taunted Penthesilia and then discovered her beauty after he killed her," Vincent corrected the Vampire taking a step forward.

"Hey, right here!" Buffy called out. Then after a firm shake of her head she mumbled, "men! Even evil... on a tree..."

Rasputin took a full threatening step towards the protector of the Tunnels, "I said I have no plans of violation or allowing such to happen. She is mine. I will not allow another such as yourself to soil her or to take this victory from me."

"And I cannot--_allow--_her to be killed," Vincent said calmly, just a hint of fang flashing in the dim light. "Your kind is not--_allowed_--in the park, this is not your hunting grounds." Kassandra had never heard Vincent put so much disgust into one word as he had into allowed.

The vampires surrounding Rasputin shifted uneasily as quiet whispers erupted. Their voices too soft for even Kassandra's sensitive ears to pick-up all that was being said. What she heard made no sense, _' tears you apart'... 'leaves you for the sun'... 'frozen to the ground, ripped...dogs eat you until the sun... sun...sun... sun'_

The sense of unease, the shifting of their feet as if to run instead of attack was very clear. They were afraid of Vincent, which was incredible considering how many of the monsters - no vampires - Kassandra saw the woman - Buffy - slaughter.

Rasputin turned back to her, his eyes suddenly wide with fear, "Vincent? The child said Vincent?" He questioned, his voice raising an octave. He pivoted and asked, "You are he? Are you Vincent of the Park?" Rasputin begged for Vincent to tell him it wasn't true. Then the Vampire shook his head in the negative, "You can't be, that's a myth from years ago!" His words might have been believable if his expression wasn't one of utter terror.

Vincent stood to his full height, reached up with his clawed hand and pulled his hood down, so that his face could be seen.

"You are wrong for a second time, this night" Jacob's rich baritone came from the bramble beside the bike path. He stepped out of the unkempt bushes with a baseball bat held at the ready; his long red-gold hair pulled back and tied in place. He was a few short steps from the Vampire leader and the threat was clear.

Kassandra felt the beginning of a smile; she should have known Jacob could always find her, no matter what.

Rasputin took a step back as if he'd been struck. "Why do you protect these... Humans?"

"Because they can't protect themselves," Jacob answered him. And even though Kassandra disagreed with him, not with all her newfound power, she kept quiet. She realized that in this fight, just for tonight, she did need to be protected; she did need to be treated like the sixteen year old she actually was, but only for tonight.

Buffy reached for Kass with one arm and pushed Kassandra more fully behind her. "Things are going to get very ugly really fast." Buffy warned, and handed Kass a beautiful dagger. "The blade is wood en-laid so it works like a stake, first chance you get, run."

Vincent took two more long strides towards the pack of Vampires and they shifted back a step. Rasputin's well ordered army, the same monsters who had had fought the woman with discipline and bravery was about to spook like a heard of skittish horses.

The clouds moved away from the moon and the scene was once again bathed in light. Of the vampires only Rasputin stood still, the rest were shifting from one foot to the other, glancing back and forth between Vincent, Jacob, and the woman. Kassandra realized that they thought they were trapped with death all around them. She realized the vampires were about to rush the woman, en-mass, not because they thought they would win or even survive, but in the hope that she offered a painless death.

Everyone tensed, on the edge of the cliff, balanced exactly between life and death...

"Stop!" Rasputin ordered, and Kass felt a wave of power from him wash over the hoard in front of her, stilling them. The Russian turned back to Vincent. "I am a businessman, surely you see that nothing good will come out of this situation."

Vincent, his clawed hands clenching and unclenching, at his sides, asked, "what do you propose?"

"We leave, we leave the Park," Kassandra watched as Vincent took another angry step forward. "And I will enforce it as off-limits, a human only hunting ground," Rasputin rushed to finish.

Vincent stopped and nodded once.

It was all the vampires needed as they dropped their weapons, and Rasputin led them single file between Vincent and Jacob. As soon as they were free of the entrapment their discipline disintegrated and they ran down the bike trail out of sight.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four--Rest

Kassandra shivered from another blast of cold air. She stared at the spot where Narcissa and the woman disappeared into the night. Vaguely she wondered why Vincent just didn't simply pick up Buffy and carry her instead of letting Narcissa struggle under her weight.

"There is a bench over by the light," Jacob said supporting her. At his words it was like the floodgates of tears opened and Kassandra dropped the beautiful knife and the wooden stake into the snow. The familiar warmth of Jacob emotions suddenly replaced the protective energy from the woman and she cried even harder in relief. She grabbed onto him partly in fear that she would lose his protection if they weren't touching and partly in the simple need for comfort from her brother. Jacob always was able to find her and he would always be there to save her.

Even if he was only saving her from herself.

What happened tonight was too much, too much to learn, too much to know. Vampires? Vampires were real?

She was some kind of warrior chosen to fight them?

Kassandra would give anything to be back in her chamber asleep in her bed. She forced her mind to work; what did she actually know? Besides Vampires--she was actually thinking about vampires--about a tiny woman killing vampires. The woman had been magnificent, she had a fluid and deadly grace Kass had only seen in Vincent. The memory of how the woman moved was burned into Kassandra's mind. She knew she would never be able to move like Buffy did.

Kass shook her head trying to clear more of the fuzziness but it was useless, she was just too tired. Jacob held her as her mind continued to race in exhausting circles. He held her steady against the storm of emotions crashing all around as her extra senses tried to feed her information she could no longer process or tolerate. Jacob's steadiness was keeping the waves of energy at bay.

"Come on," Jacob guided her to the bench and then helped her sit down on the frozen surface. She had a moment of panic when she thought he was going to break the physical contact however she needn't have worried because he knew.

He always knew.

She sighed in relief as he helped her put the parka on and immediately she felt warmer. He held her hand while he knelt in front of her putting the boots on the ground next to him. Always touching her, never losing contact with her. She vaguely noticed that the snow was white in this area while it was a muddy red a few feet away, the dagger sticking up in the frozen ground. She had to remember to pick it up before they left and went below.

"Kasey, I think you have frost bite," Jacob said.

"Huh?" She said looking down at him. He had one of her shoes off and was inspecting her foot.

"I said, I think you have frost bite," he said again, as if he were talking to one of the younger children Below. She could only blink at him, she knew the words, she just couldn't make them mean something. And he knew that too, as he tied the strings of the boots together and draped them over his shoulder.

"Let's get you to Michael and have him check you out," he said, his warm hand reaching up to brush some of her bright hair out of her face. Then he stood and Kassandra felt him lift her and she sighed as she snuggled into the circle of his arm.

Safe

Protected

The maelstrom that was New York City blocked from her senses for the moment.

Buffy the Vampire SlayerBeauty and the Beast

The warmth of Jacob's arms and the musical sound of the pipes lulled Kassandra until she was almost asleep. If her hands and feet would just stop itching then she could get some rest. She could forget all about what happened tonight and pretend she was in her chamber, in her bed.

Almost.

The closer she got to the core tunnels, the closer she got to the woman, the more aware she was of the thing inside her.

She could feel Buffy even this far away in the upper tunnels. The closer they got to the hospital Chamber the more content the predator inside her became. It was amazing to Kassandra that the feelings from the woman were able to reach her through the distance and Jacob's warmth. Without the bombardment to her extra senses from Above she mentally snuggled deeper into Jacob's calmness and let the world fall away. The thing inside her was completely content for the first time in months.

"Hey watch the needles!"

The shout woke Kassandra from the peaceful stupor. She blinked against the harsh, bright electrical lights of the Hospital Chamber. Jacob stood at the entrance holding her as his eyes adjusted too.

"If you felt the relationship between Vincent and Jacob, why can't you now feel that we mean you no harm?" Kass heard Narcissa's soft-voice coming from behind the curtain of the treatment area.

"That was easy, they have the same eyes," Kassandra recognized the voice of the woman. Although, she had already known that Buffy was in the Chamber. There was a silent acknowledgment through their extra-senses from the woman, almost a reaching out to Kassandra when she entered the Chamber. It was as if now that Buffy knew Kass was safe she could relax, too. Buffy was able to feel that Kass felt safe, and because of it she could let go.

"Jacob? My heaven is Kassandra injured, too?" Mary's kind face suddenly filled Kass' vision and it startled her.

"I think her feet and hands have frost-bite," Jacob answered. Kass only halfway paid attention to what was going on as she was placed on a soft warm bed. She strained to hear the chatter that was happening beyond the curtain at the far side of the chamber.

"X-Ray? You have X-ray?" The woman's incredulous voice asked, while still at the conversational level, it was loud to Kassandra's ears now that she was paying attention it. "And it won't nuke me?"

"No, its safe, why would think otherwise?" Michael's calm baritone answered her. Kass was happy that Michael was in the Tunnels tonight and could help Father take care of Buffy.

"Well, the early medieval motif your decorator has going on--not that it isn't a valid choice in décor—Ouch! I said watch the needles!" Buffy shouted, again. Kassandra felt the connection between them began to fade and she knew Buffy had to sleep to heal. She didn't know how she knew it, she just did. That whatever drug Father or Michael used wasn't strong unless the woman let herself relax and didn't fight. Kassandra felt Buffy as she calmed.

"I will simply not try to set a bone without some kind of pain medicine," Michael proclaimed, in that self-righteous voice he sometimes got. The same kind of voice Kass heard from other doctors when she lived Above.

"And the sleepiness?" She heard the woman mumble. The thread between Kass and the woman weakened until it slowly went out and she knew that Buffy slept.

"Kassandra!" Mary's worried face was again hovering over her again and she realized that she was now nearly undressed. The warm blankets of the bed felt so good on her cold legs and arms.

"Cold," she told Mary between shivers, snuggling deeper into warmth of the bed.

"More rocks Jacob, the poor child is nearly blue!" Mary said over her shoulder and for the first time Kassandra saw the wood-burning heater in the corner of the chamber glowing red. Her brother standing over it with the thick leather gloves wrapping a heated brick in a cloth. That's when she realized that there were other heated bricks in her bed and she nearly purred and tried to sink deeper in their warmth. All the itchy pain in her hands and feet from the cold nearly forgotten. She was safe, she was safe the things in the park couldn't reach her here, not with Vincent and Jacob watching out for her.

"What on earth could you have been thinking running out on a night like this one, I'll never know!" the kind old woman again drew her attention.

"Here Kasey," Jacob gently tucked a few more bricks around her chest where she lay on her side. All she wanted to do was to lay still and let everything fade away. The tiredness was returning in full-force and she was finding it nearly impossible to keep her eyes open.

"Chest tube, thank you Father, yes she should have been taken to a hospital. The blood lost from those gashes on her legs, its almost like they were trying to hamstring her." Michael's rich baritone seemed to fill her head and echo.

"Well, she'll have to wait for surgery until she's stable enough to go Above." Father's answering mummer was the last thing Kassandra heard as she let sleep over take her.

Buffy the Vampire SlayerBeauty and the Beast

Joe Maxwell the District Attorney of Manhattan going on 20 years stood up to his knees in the snow as cold wind whipped around him, trying to leach what little warmth his coat offered.

"Hey Joe," Detective Greg Hughes, Jr greeted him. "Some night, huh?" The young detective sounded so much like his father that for a moment Joe was struck again by the grief he still felt over the loss of his friend.

"Yeah, just great Greg, just wonderful!" Joe walked through the deep snow to avoid messing up the crime scene--or rather the lack of crime scene. The bright lights of the crime lab illuminated what seemed like half of Central Park. When Greg Junior called he said that no one had been able to decide if it was just some kind of sick college prank or the scene of a massacre until CSI came back with their findings.

"As I was saying," Greg repeated when it was clear that Joe's mind wasn't on his words. It took a lot to get the D.A. out of bed and from the looks of Central Park a lot had happened in the wee hours of the morning. As Joe scanned the area he just prayed that it was a prank and that the blood wasn't human.

"It looks like some kind of attack happened up the bike trail, with a running battle to right here," Junior pointed at Summit Rock. Junior babbled on, just as if Joe hadn't lived his entire life in New York and didn't know it like the back of his hand. Somehow it seemed odd to Joe, standing there in the snow, listening to the young man giving him the details of his findings. It was hard to believe he and Junior's dad had been friends and co-workers for years before the Senior Hughes had been taken by cancer ten years ago.

Joe shook his head to clear it; he was just too old to be wandering around Central Park in the middle of winter. Seeing the energy the younger Hughes displayed tired him and made him wish for his warm bed. He stomped his feet to get the blood running. They felt frozen. For that matter, so did the rest of him.

"I called you when the lab guys said it was blood," Greg Junior, continued. "We just won't know if it's human or not, until they can run it down. The corner said if it's human then we should be looking for anywhere from two to five bodies, at least." Detective Hughes, "Junior" Joe amended to himself automatically, was reading from his notes, his blonde hair falling slightly in his face, and the District Attorney of Manhattan had the urge to push it behind the young cop's ears like he'd done when Greg was a child.

"We recovered one knife, it looks like a custom job and a sharpened stick." Greg held up two plastic bags with the items in them. And Joe had to admit that the knife was beautiful, if deadly. There was only one reason for a knife like that one and that was to kill humans with—it wasn't for gutting fish—or cutting steak.

Joe nodded and then shook his head again. He had planned to retire last year; the politics of the position had killed his desire to continue. To this day he didn't understand why he signed up for another term or maybe he did know, the Tunnel World needed friends in high places to protect it. Or maybe it wasn't so much the Tunnel World as one little redheaded beauty who he had promised to find who responsible for her mother's murder.

The thought of Diana's death brought back how she had died. "Greg, let me see the knife again," Joe, demanded. He was finally fully awake for the first time since he received the call.

"What'cha thinkin?" The young detective asked.

"I don't know," Joe answered. Joe was a small man and yet, even his hand wouldn't fit on the handle. "Did you see this?" He asked Greg and the detective shrugged his shoulders. Despite the smallness of the handle the knife still had to weigh nearly a pound.

Joe put the knife back into the plastic bag and handed it to Greg. "I want that knife gone over with everything. There has to be a maker's mark on it somewhere and I want to know the second you find it."

"Yes, sir," Greg stood at attention and Joe thought for a second the young man was going to salute him. Then Greg smirked at him, just the way Senior would, and Joe's heart clenched in his chest from the pain. Joe pivoted so he was facing the crime scene again and away from Junior so that Greg couldn't see the tears threatening to fall. '_I should have retired last year. After Diana's investigation turned up empty. I'm just too old, I've just seen too many things.'_

"Detective we found something else," one of the lab guys called out from the other side of the path, breaking into his thoughts. Joe looked around for a place to cross but just ended up walking across the mess. If the lab boys hadn't gotten pictures by now then he was going to give them a piece of his mind.

"What do you have?" He was cold, tired, and his thoughts were taking to many odd turns. He felt Greg come up next to him and they both looked down at the knelling CSI. The bright spot light the tech's head shine between his bad comb over. Joe couldn't understand why men did that? He knew his own hair was thinning in places it shouldn't, however he had vowed that he would face his coming baldness like a man.

'_And just why am I thinking about my hair when the Chief of the Crime Lab is trying to explain to me the importance of shoe sizes?'_ For what seemed like the tenth time in ten minutes Joe shook himself so that he could focus. He couldn't understand why his thoughts were heading down memory lane tonight—er-this morning.

"We have two sets of foot prints coming up through the underbrush, one is a man wearing some kind of boot, and the other is a small woman's or a child." The Chief said, pausing for dramatic affect. Why did the lab guys always have to make a production out of doing their jobs? "And we found this," he held up a baseball bat.

Joe's short temper was about to get even shorter. All these things did not need the attention of the District Attorney. Joe turned on his heel with plans of coffee and a quick nap on his office couch. He had good people under him and he needed to let them do their jobs. He'd put in his face time so if it was truly a crime scene, the press couldn't complain that Joe Maxwell didn't care or didn't work as hard now as he did twenty years ago. It was now time to get warm, and dream about a time where he could let the job go.

Buffy the Vampire SlayerBeauty and the Beast


	5. Chapter 5Diana

Chapter Five—Diana

"Hey, baby," her mother, said.  Kassandra whirled around to see her mother sitting in her favorite chair in their small apartment.  The bleak morning sun shining through the dirty windows highlighted the dark red of Diana's hair.

"Mom!" Kassandra cried and threw herself into her mother's arms, curling up on her lap.  The young girl dreamed of this so many times over the past year.  That her mother was still alive, that the horrible night had never happened, that all of her wishes would come true.  She was crying, sobbing, as she felt her mother's love wash over her.  

"I love you so much!" Her mother said fiercely, pulling her even tighter into her embrace.  This wasn't like her mother; normally her mom was reserved and quiet.  Kassandra knew she was loved by the way her mother would always touch her, hug her, or push her hair off her face.  Her mother was like Vincent; she couldn't stand to be held or be close to people.

And Kassandra hated that in this one moment her mind wouldn't be quiet and just enjoy being with her Mom one last time.  Kass pulled slightly away wiping her eyes, so she could look up into her mother's face.  "This is different," she said softly, questioning.

"I know, baby girl," her mom whispered into her hair, "just let this moment last a second or two longer? I've missed you so much, and I don't have much time."  With those simple words Kassandra knew this was her mother.  Given back to her, real and solid—only—not. Kass also knew it was only a dream.  The thought of her mother not really being there caused all the grief to bubble up from deep inside her soul.  And she couldn't stop crying, she tried, she didn't want to ruin this time with her Mom, but no matter how much tried, the tears kept falling.  She saw the tear stains on her mother's ratty, old, gray sweatshirt that she wore all the time around the apartment.

"God I hate this shirt!" Kassandra cried even harder and her mother let her. The Shirt smelled like home and it helped calm her. Kass realized for the first time in a year she wasn't cold.  

"Don't complain about my sweatshirt it's comfortable," her mother answered.   The tears began to slow down and Kass yawned.  '_Could a person be tired in a dream?' _she wondered.

"When the dream it's a Slayer Dream," a voice answered, from the corner of the room, over near the elevator, the only street entrance to the small Loft apartment.  Kassandra turned and saw the woman from the Park, Buffy.  The blonde raised her hand in a tentative wave and it seemed to mark the end of the time with her Mom.  

"It's time for me to go baby girl," her Mom said, hugging her even tighter. 

"No, please let me stay," Kassandra begged, clutching at her.  It felt like her heart was being torn out of her chest as ever tighter bands of steel were being wrapped around her forcing all the air from her.  Kass needed more time! She didn't have enough time to tell her mother all the things she wanted to, all she wanted to do was just to talk to her!

 "I want you to go with Buffy," her mother told her.  Kass could only stare at Buffy and then back at her mother.  

"No," she said, her head shaking in denial. "I need to know about you, I need to just talk to you mom, so much has happened and I need...."

"Buffy can help you, Kasey.  Buffy can help you understand everything, " she finished by pressing a kiss on her forehead.  She didn't her to go, she wanted her mother back!  Kassandra couldn't think of a life without her!  However Kassandra knew that couldn't happen.

"Where you are?" Kasey pressed, "are you happy?" She choked on her tears again.  Kassandra closed her eyes so her mother couldn't see her how much it hurt.  She wanted her mother safe and happy but she also wanted to be ressured that she was still loved and not forgotten.

"Baby girl open your eyes and look at me," her mother ordered. So Kasandra did, she looked into her mother's eyes.  "Buffy can answer that question, too.  She can answer all your questions." 

Now even Kass could feel that the time was ending that this was all the time she had. Her Mom bit her lower lip and nodded as if she could read Kass' mind.

Diana looked away as if she were hearing something beyond Kasey's comprehension. "Things are coming and Buffy needs your help.  You and Jacob have to convince the other's to help her.  You have to convince the entire Tunnel World to help her, because without our help the world will end."

Kass glanced up at Buffy as the words seemed to come alive.  The words echoed in her mind almost as if they were bouncing back and forth through her head.

Her mother then gently took Kasey's chin and turned her back to face her. "I'm proud of you Kasey, know that I will always love you, and be watching over you." Warm fingers brushed away the tears that fell down Kassandra's cheek.  "I never thought I could truly feel love, not after all I'd seen, not after all I'd done, I was so lost in the darkness, until the moment I felt you inside me.  You brought light and love into my life that I never thought I could feel.  You are the reason I am where I am now, you erased my despair. I know you can do this, I know it."

"Kasey!  You're having a nightmare!  C'mon, wake-up," she heard Jacob's voice from a distance.  Her mother smiled at her one last time and she just faded away.

"Kasey, wake up," Jacob ordered and this time Kasandra jerked awake.  Blinking her eyes clear to see Jacob's blue eyes.  Then the dream hit and the fact that her mother was gone—again--she waited for the tears, that never came.  Even Jacob looked confused that Kasey wasn't a sobbing mess in his arms.

"The child has the strenght of the truth now," Narcissa's musical voice floated to her from the other side of the Hospital Chamber.

"I know," Buffy whispered in return and Kass thought that she sounded older than even Father.  

TBC


End file.
